Analysis of the views of orientalists concerning the source of the Qur an

Some of the orientalists are of the opinion that the Qur’an is not divinely revealed book. They believe that Muhammad has compiled the Qur’an from various cultures, religions, people and books or the Qur’an is the result of the experience and thought of Muhammad or [God forbid] a satanic inspiration and does not contain any divinity. In this paper, the arguments of orientalists concerning the source of the Qur’an have been scrutinized and the conclusion has been derived that alone having similarity with the Bible does not establish the theory that the Qur’an has been derived from that. Principally, all revealed religions in their teachings have a common nature of guidance to mankind and in general they share the same teachings while differ in minor issues. Furthermore, the Qur’anic criticism of the Biblical teachings and its differences with that shows that it has not been derived from it. The culture and some of the etiquettes of the people of the time of revelation and their poems cannot be considered as the source of the Qur’an because the Qur’an has protested and criticised them and their culture and poems and has changed all these from the base. Rather, it should be said that the presence of the Qur’anic verse in the poetry of Ummyah bin Salt shows that how they were influenced by the Qur’an. Besides, the articulacy of the prophet was lower than the Qur’an from the view point of Arabic eloquence and rhetoric. This indicates that the Qur’an was not the result of the Prophet contemplation or experience and neither he took it from someone in journeys rather, the Qur’an has been revealed from the Lord of the worlds that the Qur’an says, “(This is) a Message sent down from the Lord of the Worlds” (al Haqqa 69:43).